There were several baseline differences between the two groups of women; FHP women tended be older, were more anxious and drank more alcohol than FHN women. In addition, FHP women reported more anxiety and depression during the luteal phase compared to FHN women before alcohol administration. This was noteworthy given that women were excluded if they experienced moderate to severe premenstrual symptoms and both groups had a similar number of women (3) who had a past history of depression. Similar changes in mood across the menstrual cycle have also been reported in normal women without PMDD (Reed et al., 2008), but not all studies have observed differences in mood across the menstrual cycle (e.g., Holdstock and de Wit, 2000). It is unclear what accounts for these discrepancies across studies.
